golfingboy

The offical SkyPriority thread can be seen here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...y-its-way.html

As some of you know, I highly value the reciprocal benefits that we have and will have with DL since I do 2/3 of my flying with DL...

This raises the question for some of us here: Since it seems that we are not eligible for SkyPriority, where will this put us when we are flying on DL? Will this dilute our current and to be benefits with DL and will this by any chance result in us not being able to use the "SkyPriority check-in lanes or boarding lanes" [SkyPriority will replace Breezeway]?

I am a little nervous and concerned about this new program and that it will defeat the purpose of our current benefits [especially priority boarding, since it is quite common that half of the plane are Medallion/SkyTeam Elite plus members].... :-/

Points Scrounger

I think they've had this a while - back when I flew DL in February, a lot more than 16 pax boarded as Zone 1. Perhaps DL Golds should be Zone 1 also (MVP as Zone 2)?

golfingboy

This new program will be rolled out on April 15th... Currently, all DL medallions are supposed to board in Zone 2.... Technically, Zone 1 is reserved for FC customers only, but it seems like some GAs does not enforce it...

United757

This is SkyGarbage.

Points Scrounger

I thought our BP's say "Sky Team Gold Elite" - if so, shouldn't we qualify, too?

golfingboy

Not anymore

2 days ago when I flew on DL, my BP said AS MVP GOLD... That got the check-in agent a bit confused in VCE

It would be neat if we are eligible for SkyPriority...

beckoa

...well you would be if upgraded

golfingboy

Yeah , but that is not really the point... Upgrades are ridiculously hard out of LAX unless if you are flying on a red-eye So, it is very important to me that our reciprocal benefits from the "marketing agreement" with DL is not significantly downgraded...

Eventhough, if our benefits will remain unchanged the experience can be severly diluted, because we are sharing those benefits with the Medallions, but with SkyPriority, we will be behind the Medallions and SkyTeam Elite in pratically everything...

DL Silver Elites got screwed over more than we did [that is what happens when two major carriers merge and the elite base is too large], but it seems like to some extent we are going to be screwed especially with priority boarding and maybe with check-in

I guess I should PM SMI and politely ask him/her what we can expect when flying on Delta when everything is in place...

hgdf

I've been on a few AS flights where it seems like half the plane was MVPG's, for example: SEA-ORD and SEA-EWR. I've also been on several DL flights with plenty of empty F seats. If you're a PM or a DM, it doesn't seem fair to have the same boarding priority as a FO, or for that matter... an AS elite.

IMO, DL is already stretching it a bit by including GM and ST E+ in zone 1, for what's sure to be a veritable cluster-fest on certain flights.

I don't think the DL folks will necessarily have it better on AS. From what I've heard from the gold lunch, they're all going to be behind MVPs in line for upgrades, and they'll get to board in AS's equivalent of zone 2, after MVPGs.

I suppose you could try your luck with UA, but be prepared for some merger craziness coming in the near future. Just pray that it's CO and not US that they hitch up with. You could give AA a shot, but unless you're EXP, flying with them is nothing special.

Redeeming mileage on DL really isn't as hard as you think, it's just that their broken system really makes it seem that way.

golfingboy

How about out of LAX? F and J seems to be full at the gate all the time except for red-eyes... I guess I can't wait and see my upgrade success rate will be on DL... Also, I fly quite often between LAX-JFK and DL refuses to upgrade anyone until about 30-45 minutes before departure... For some reason, they think they can sell those J seats for more than $2500, which is overpriced IMO.

Yeah, I agree... I think my disappointment came when they decided to include ST E+, but not AS... No airline or alliance does that for their partners [espeically priority security, which is a benefit I probably value most aside from upgrades... I really do want AS to talk with DL and see if they are willing to do reciprocal elite security acess agreements]

Yeah, but I found upgrades on the west coast flights to be a breeze... Transcon is not easy on any airline including AirTran... CO transcons typically have 50+ elites on the upgrade list and I am pretty confident that it is nowhere near that number for AS.... I think I have asked on this forum before, but I would love if AS could share with us what is the average # of elites per flight.

That is what I have been considering for some time now AS is not the best airline for my $$$ as you can see by the end of the month I will have flown 30K miles on DL... I can't really enjoy my benefits to the fullest on AS, because their route network out of LAX is very limited and the average price for their tickets are high... I am a college student, so coughing up $100 more just to fly on AS is just too much for me

Yeah, I have found some J seats to EU on DL from time to time... AMS is really easy and you can easily find availability to/from Germany.... The biggest problem is redeeming awards to EU cities where DL only has one flight to per day and their redemption level to Asia is just too much... IMO, DL J is only worth 100K tops to Asia, not 120K. Also another gripe is, sometimes I want to fly LAX-JFK-EU, but their system will not have any of that and will force me on a route like LAX-DTW-JFK or LAX-ATL-JFK...

hgdf

Well, you know they didn't yank all those F seats out to create the BE product of they didn't think the could charge a lot more for it. It's basically a clone of the VX F product.

I wouldn't worry too much about this. With DL being the only US SkyTeam member, there usually aren't that many non-DL ST E+ members on most domestic flights.

If you travel almost exclusively on the west coast, you have to make somewhere around 2X round trips per month on AS metal to make MVPG. Aside from AK based customers, I suspect a lot of MVPGs qualify either through segments (mostly on QX), or by flying transcons semi-frequently.

I hear you there. Cheap mileage runs on AS metal hard to find unless they include a code-share with AA or DL.


Oh the system will allow it alright, just not in the cheaper fare buckets.

golfingboy

Most of my travels are from LAX-WAS/New York [NYC, BUF/ROC] and one or two International RTs a year. The rest are pretty much scattered all over the country You can see my flightmemory in my signature

I meant when trying to redeem an award ticket...

hgdf

It depends on how many miles you're willing to put in. Personally, I don't think investing in UA or AA is worth it unless you're going for top tier and those coveted SWUs.

Oh, well then that is different.

Exiled in Express

I ran this past some DL club agents this weekend in MSP and MKE, it seems that SkyPriority is still a bit of a mystery to them or they did an excellent job bluffing.

hgdf

It took a lot of DL gate agents many months to understand the mystery of the Breezeway process, so I wouldn't be surprised we experience a bit of...inconsistency.